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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24189955">Road to Nowhere</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl'>captainamergirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Life to Live</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:34:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,974</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24189955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He thought he saw someone he once knew …</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Road to Nowhere</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>
    <strong>Road to Nowhere</strong>
  </span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> The sound of the intercom crackling to life awakened him from his fitful slumber. The conductor announced they were making a short layover in a small-town called Canaseraga, New York. The conductor said they would be there for two hours which was long enough for John to do some walking. He needed to expend some of this anxious energy that was weighing him down.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> He stood and got on line to leave the train. He was outside in the very chill air in no time. He tightened his thin suit jacket about him and started to walk forward. He must have walked for five minutes but it wasn't making the thoughts in his head any less forceful or any less dangerous.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> He spotted a little diner up ahead called Sally's and his stomach grumbled in response. The least he could do was eat something.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> He walked into the diner and noticed it was nearly empty. He slid into a seat at the counter and a very stout, round woman approached him, handing him a menu. "Hello, I'm Sally. Welcome to Canaseraga. Can I get you something to drink?" She asked.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Hey Sally, got any beer?" He asked.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "No." She looked at her watch though and frowned noticeably. It wasn't even 11 a.m. yet.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John shook his head. "Okay well a ginger ale will be just fine then."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> She looked less flustered by that request. "Alright. I'll go get it while you study the menu. I have been told that our omelets are the best around for miles."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John nodded. "That's what I'll have then - one with lots of peppers." He handed her the menu and she thanked him. He nodded and turned around in his seat to face the window. A group of people he recognized from the train ride passed by chattering loudly. He was about to turn back to face the counter when he saw someone he thought he never would again. That thick, curly blonde hair … He would know it anywhere. Even with her back facing him as she was pulled a newspaper from a little coin-operated stand at the corner; he had no doubt who he was looking at.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <em>Marty Saybrooke.</em>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> He immediately jumped out of his seat and ran from the diner at lightning speed. He broke into a dead run just as she turned and spotted him. Her sapphire blue eyes went wide in surprise and she started to turn and hurry away but he was much too quick for her. He dug his handcuffs out of his trouser pocket and started to reach for her wrist. She slapped his hand away.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "No, John, don't!" She said and it sounded like a plea.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Good, you recognize me," he said. "It's so nice to see you again, Marty. Now please come with me to the nearest police station." He reached for her wrist again and slapped the cuff on her wrist.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "You have no jurisdiction here, John," Marty said. "You can't do this."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Watch me try." He started to drag her forward as she tried to dig her heels into the pavement and make their progress difficult.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Please, John, don't do this," she said. "I don't want my baby to grow up without me."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "What are you talking about? What baby?"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Marty sighed and parted her thick trench coat. John could see the noticeable mound under her long dress. "This baby, John. I know I made a helluva lot of mistakes but I don't want my little girl to suffer for them so please, please don't turn me in."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John was filled with indecision as he looked at Marty cupping her pregnant stomach with her free hand. He knew he shouldn't give into her pleas - she was a wanted criminal after all - but something made him hesitate. Not just because of the life she was carrying inside of her but because when he looked into her eyes, everything was different. That crazed, desperate look she had sported for months and months on end, the look he saw in her eyes the night she nabbed his son and knifed Kelly Cramer … It was gone. All he could see was tears and too many regrets in their liquidy depths.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "I've changed, John," she said hoarsely. "I am a totally different person now. I am back with the man I've always loved and though things are far from easy, we're happy. We're trying to make a life together here. Please don't take it away, John, please."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John looked deep into her eyes then; saw the pleading expression in the blue, endless depths. She wasn't begging him to love her or pick her as she had so many times in the past; she was begging him to let her have a life with her new child. Every cop-instinct inside of John was screaming at him to lock her up and throw away the key but in the end, he wasn't sure he could actually do it.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Marty…"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "John, I have changed. Being back with my husband Patrick –"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Your husband? Patrick Thornhart?" John asked. "But he's dead. You said so many times. In fact it's what-" He broke off and looked away.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "It's what bonded us, I know," Marty said. "You had lost someone you loved too and I had lost the love of my life, but Patrick was alive the whole time. Todd's crazy mother Irene held him captive."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Why would she do something like that?"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "I guess to punish me for 'corrupting' her sons, or at least that's what Patrick said she tried to drill into his head every day," Marty said. "She nearly broke him many times … I thought as a former psychiatrist I understood people's motivations but I am not too sure now. Who really knows why some people do what they do."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Why did you do all that you did, Marty?" John asked. "You did a helluva lot of stuff the Marty I first met never would have even contemplated."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Marty nodded and with her free hand wiped away a tear that ran down her cheek. "I did. Sometimes I feel like that happened to a completely different person… I guess when I lost our baby, it broke me. It shattered me into so many pieces…" She muffled a little sob with her hand. "I am honestly not trying to guilt you here. I am responsible for my own actions and I am so sorry for everything."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John nodded and three words escaped his lips that he should have said a long time ago, "I'm sorry too."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> She looked truly shocked by his words, as shocked as he felt to say them. "John –"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "That was my kid as well and instead of being with you when you really needed me, I pushed you away. I let you be the scapegoat even after everything that I did to hurt you… I'm sorry. It's not easy to say and I never expected to say that honestly … but I am."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Marty nodded as another tear slipped down her cheek. "I'm not mad anymore. Life goes on, I guess. Just please tell me something. Did Cole and Hope … Well, do you think they suffered when they went over that cliff? I read the papers. I know you were in Port Charles. I know Cole's death had to hurt you. He always adored you."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John nodded and stared off into the distance. "I like to think it was quick, that they didn't have a lot of time to be scared. I like to think they're at peace even if we're not."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "I miss them so much," Marty said. "I miss them so damn much. I wanted to be there to say goodbye but –"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "You knew I would have arrested you."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "That and Patrick asked me to not to risk anymore heartache for us. He said that me going to prison wouldn't bring my family back and would just cost us the love we had fought so hard for."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "Sounds like a wise guy," John said. "I am almost sorry I never met him."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "He is a good man, the best one I ever knew," Marty said. "And I don't want to leave him when he's done so much for me. He helped heal me, John; he helped me start to like the face that I see in the mirror every morning. Don't make me leave him. I am asking you, I am pleading with you here. Just let me go. Forget you ever even saw me."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Marty, I don't think I can."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "You don't think you can let me go," she said quietly, eyes downcast.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "No, I don't think I can forget I never saw you again."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "John …"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "No, Marty, I wasn't lying. I won't ever be able to forget seeing you again. Some things you can't just forget no matter how hard you try."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "What do you mean?" Marty asked, staring at him in earnest.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "I mean …" He sighed and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "I put you out of mind because I had to, because I wrote you off as a lost cause, but seeing you now… You're the Marty I used to know and I can't forget that I … cared about you once."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Marty seemed at a loss for words then and it was just as well. John wouldn't know how to reply to her questions anyway. He had admitted more than he even knew that he was even feeling. But it was true. He had cared about Marty a lot once upon a time and seeing her again, seeing her seemingly the way he wanted to remember her, was a humbling sight.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> He reached into his pocket and finished around for the keys to the handcuffs. He then, before he could change his mind, unlocked the one around her wrist. He saw the relief wash over Marty's face.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "You're letting me go?" She asked in a voice filled with awe. "You're really letting me go? You aren't going to send someone after me later?"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> She didn't trust him and he didn't blame her. He shook his head as he looked away from her, towards the hills in the distance. "I broke a lot of promises to you but this one I won't. No one ever will know that you're here."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Marty let out a breath, a sigh really, full of relief. "Thank you, John." She touched her wrist as the cuffs slid away and John tucked them, along with the keys, into his pocket. "I believe you."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "I never gave you a good reason to do so... But well, your secret is safe with me."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> She nodded. "This is goodbye then. Forever."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John looked at her again. He felt a little pang of regret and sadness in his chest. "Yeah..."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Marty nodded and started to move away. She turned back just long enough to say, "I wish you happiness, John, wherever you go."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> "The same goes for you," he agreed and then he turned and walked back towards the diner. His steps were slow but purposeful as he slid into the seat at the counter.</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Sally approached him and set a huge omelet in front of him. "You're back right in time," she said. "Where'd you run off to?"</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John shrugged. "I thought I saw someone I used to know but I guess I was wrong."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> Sally nodded. "Well eat up before it gets cold."</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> John had completely lost his appetite but dug into the meal anyway. He had to pass the time somehow and thinking of Marty wasn't going to get him anywhere. He knew somehow though, he had done the right thing by letting her have her freedom, finally, after all this time. In a way by doing so, he had also freed himself...</span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
  <span> FINIS</span>
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